Winter Mode light on?!? Problem?

[ZEUS]

Weird... I'm thinking exposed wire making contact with metal somewhere. Got me man, good luck!

[kpaske]

Moisture or freezing causing a short somewhere, maybe? If all else fails, wait for a warmer, dry day and see if it goes away. I know, in Seattle that might not be until April.

[PHO2GR4]

Strange. It's still doing it.

With the bouncing causing the light to flicker, I hope it's something as dumb as a loose wire. I wish I knew HOW the Winter Mode worked, so I could maybe guess where the loose wire might most likely be!

I also hope it is that simple. I'd hate to be having some major transmission problems...

Any other ideas, folks? Has anyone else seen this or heard of this before?

[IndianaVX]

I got nothin.........
maybe the vx is just reminding you that it IS winter..........and in march it will say spring, july it will say summer, and in sept, it will say fall.......who knows

[VehiX]

Have you been doing any work in or outside of your vehicle lately? Anything that may have caused a connection problem some where? What's going on under your passenger seat? If I'm not mistaken, this is where the TOD CPU is located. Also, how about crumbs and such down by the button itself? Anything wedged in between the buttons that perhaps is blocking the button from popping back out? What happens after you reach 25 mph? This is when winter mode should shut itself off.

[etlsport]

id start by pulling the switches out and running the VX while they are unplugged..if the light stays on you can be sure its a short not related to your switch...very easy.. 8 screws... two on the sides of the center console just infront of the little cupholder thing.. two on the sides of the center console on the very back towards the floor.. lift that piece up from the back, reach under and detach wire harness (theres a small tab you can depress, depress that and then a little pulling and it will come apart) and pull it over the ebrake handle (easier if ebrake is on) two screws behind the winter and power mode buttons you can see now that the rear piece of the console is off and two on the sides of the shifter console towards the front of the shifters... unscrew your 4wd knob (counterclockwise) then pull the back of the shifter console up and back and disconnect the wire harness for the P/W mode switches

to take the buttons out theres just two tabs on the underside of the console attached to the buttons, press them in and the buttons pop through the top of the console

to put it all back together do that stuff but backwards...

make sure you remember..
1. reconnect both wiring harnesses! (p/w modes in shifter console and mirrors/defroster in center console)

2. rear screws on shifter console! once you put the back part on you cant put them in without takin everything apart again

3. might help to have a friend help putting the rear piece back on because the seat belt buckles get in the way and end up under your console

[PHO2GR4]

Hi VehiX and etlsport,

Thanks for those replies! Now the light is on at ALL times, regardless of speed, or bumps, or whether I'm actually IN Winter Mode or not.

No changes have happened recently. The light just came on while driving, flickered for a few hours, and now it's on 24/7.

Winter mode works properly. I can engage it, and then it turns off when I go fast enough, and then I can re-engage it again after stopping. But the light stays on always.

There's no "gunk" around the switches. I will try etlsport's idea of disconnecting the switches to see what happens. If it's a TOD CPU problem, I'll be pissed...

Interesting problem. I never USED the Winter Mode on either of my VXs before, and now I can't get rid of it...